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Tuesday, 14 January 2014

Chestwyrm

There’s nothing more terrifyingly
gruesome than self-mutilation. A spine-chilling tale of a man feeling entombed
in his own home. As his sanity slips into madness, our protagonist is shaken to
the core by what’s inside him. This is not a 3 minuet short film about
self-mutilation but rather a 3 minuet short about a man driven to
self-destruction, psychologically first then physically. Trapped in his own
body and confined as a prisoner in his own home, our self-mutilator can only
find refuge in death. The eerie atmosphere is filled by the claustrophobic
soundtrack by the unnerving protagonist narrating his madness. As a 3 minute
short film focused on self-destruction and an emotional descending journey of
self-mutilation. Director and cinematographer Gary Rogers builds up the tension
with the short time that he has with the ultimate decision of how our protagonist
will sever out what’s inside of him.

There are no basic guidelines to
make a good short film; as with feature and independent films. The obvious element
that combines all three films is having an exciting and original idea, a strong
script and the production value. Chestwyrm
had both elements and didn't need the third. Written by Adam Millard, Chestwyrm’s horrifying plot is more than
enough to feed the horror enthusiasts lust for blood and gore. The screenplay
didn't seem like a script at all, but rather a memoir of madness narrated by a
man whose psychosis has been driven to mutilation. A gory horror with a psychological
thriller element takes the short film deep into a psychological voyage of
vicious bodily harm.

In Chestwyrm we are subjected to constantly feeling like we are trapped with the protagonists. However I felt that we are not necessarily trapped within him but rather we are inside him with the parasite. This is not a metaphor of claustrophobia but rather a metaphor of being the parasite eating away at his sanity, a parasite that’s slowly devouring his body to a point of no return. The moment we finally leave the confines of the protagonist body is when he horrifically and gruesomely severs out the pest. Metaphorically he frees himself from being the victim of the parasite and would rather mutilate himself then continue being the slave of the pest. What really drove the short film was a question of when. We knew he was eventually going to do it but unsure of how and at what point. The short’s narrative drive is getting to the point of acting on what we all know is going to happen. For a 3 minuet short film to fit so much, this is certainly a great contender for the Who's There Film Challenge 2013.